Letters

My experience as former chairman of Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS trust patient and public involvement in health (PPIH) does not encourage optimism that the proposed reconfiguration of local healthcare monitoring will increase the accountability of foundation trusts (We're not going local when it comes to health, September 5).

It does not seem to be widely realised that when trusts achieve foundation status, responsibility for supervising their activities passes from the Healthcare Commission to the Independent Regulator of Foundation Trusts, which, unlike its predecessor, refuses to consider complaints against trusts from individual members of the public or PPIH forums. Dr Robert Heys, Sowerby Bridge, Yorkshire

Street strife

Sadly, the moving story of Naomi Conté on your cover (Inhuman trade, September 5) is one that we at Railway Children witness all too often in Africa, Latin America, India and the UK while working to prevent the abuse of children on the streets. Conté's experiences highlight the vulnerability of children when they are on the streets with no safe place to go, and how easily they can be manipulated and exposed to further exploitation and abuse by being offered a place to stay.

While Conté's story exposes the added risk of being trafficked, children and young people from the UK also end up on the streets after running away or being thrown out from home, and are forced to engage in dangerous survival strategies. Because of these concerns, Railway Children is undertaking research to capture experiences and present a realistic perspective of what it means to be a child or young person on the streets. Only through exposing the depth of this problem can we campaign for this most vulnerable and marginalised group in society to receive the support and care they need. Emilie Smeaton, National research and strategy manager, Railway Children

Built-in solutions

Paul King of the UK Green Building Council (Letters, September 5) is correct that energy efficiency is the cheapest and most effective way of cutting carbon emissions. However, the council's argument that this means local authorities should be disallowed from setting renewable energy targets for new developments ignores the vital role of such targets in helping achieve the government's zero-carbon homes policy.

Such targets enable the renewable energy industry to develop its capacity so it can install the required renewable energy [technology] on the 200,000-plus new homes a year from 2016 onwards to make them zero carbon. Without these targets, the industry is likely to suffer a major decline, making it unlikely that the zero-carbon policy will be achieved. Furthermore, by increasing the capacity of the renewable energy industry, these targets help reduce the cost of renewable energy technologies.

Rather than coming at the expense of energy efficiency, such targets encourage more energy-efficient buildings because it is cheaper to improve a building's energy efficiency before adding renewables - the more energy efficient the building, the smaller the capacity of the renewable energy system needed. These targets are vital in the fight against climate change and the government should allow councils to continue to require them in new buildings. Gareth Walton, director, Devon Sustainable Building Initiative

· Paul King is going to have to be a little more proactive if he is to shake off the charge of dithering while the planet warms. For the UK Green Building Council to be worthy of its name, it should be using the expertise of its members to provide practical ways forward now, rather than waiting for the government to come up with targets.

In modern houses, about a third of the energy used is in providing hot water. By fitting solar water heaters to every new house, about half that energy could be saved. By the use of such basic, proven technology, more than 15% of the total energy consumed in the house would be provided by renewables, a figure in excess of that required under the Merton rule and at an extra cost of less than 2% on the sale price of the house.

If the Green Building Council were to ensure all new houses built by its members were so equipped, it could be seen to be setting the agenda, and avoid the suspicion that its role is to water down legislation. Duncan Roberts,by email

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